The ruling right-wing party risks being outmanoeuvred by the opposition Socialists, who have already voted resoundedly in favour of a popular female politician, Ségolène Royal, running in next year's presidential elections.

Villepin's rival and UMP head, Sarkozy, is the obvious front-runner for the party's nomination, but the situation is clouded by the fact that incumbent President Jacques Chirac, 73, has refused to confirm he will resign next year.

"We'll see how things shape up at the beginning of the year," Villepin added, noting that Chirac would also "say how he sees his own future" at the time.

Sarkozy is far and away its most popular figure, polling well ahead of both Chirac and Villepin. He is currently running neck-and-neck with Ségolène Royal, who clinched the Socialists' candidacy on Thursday.

But last week, Chirac's wife Bernadette suggested the president - who turns 74 at the end of the month - might bid for a third term in April's election, despite polls showing he has no chance of winning.

And Villepin told France 5 the situation still remained "very fluid."

Chirac's preferred heir, Villepin was once considered another likely contender. But his ratings have plummeted since he took office last year, over a series of unpopular reforms.

Officially, Villepin claims he has no presidential ambitions, and he repeated Sunday it was necessary "for someone to head the government" until the vote.

He also said it was likely Sarkozy would resign from the government, should he be tapped as the UMP candidate.

She keeps up "a fast rhythm that is sometimes difficult to follow," one regional official said.

Since taking over the council in 2004, she has gained a reputation for moving fast and achieving concrete goals with the aim of underlining her "proximity" to the people - the same populist tactic she has employed to become the Socialist's champion for president.

The main issues she has pursued are the environment, education, and employment.

Her programmes have included: developing bio-fuels, giving free books to school students, and establishing job-creation subsidies.

More original, she has introduced a flat one-euro train fare in the region one day per month and supplied thousands of pairs of slippers for boarding school pupils.


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Royal's detractors have sneered that the measures are mostly piecemeal and lack any overarching vision. They also argue that such a strategy would fail if taken to a national scale.

"She tends to support little subsidies more than big projects," said her main opponent in the region, Elisabeth Morin, whom Royal ousted as regional council president. She said Royal was "a hard woman who takes decisions alone".

"The way Ségolène Royal manages her team is unusual," admitted a Royal ally, Greens Party member Marie Legrand, who is the regional council's vice-president.

"The ship doesn't list as long as issues are moving forward," she said.

Royal's determination has earned her an image among many here as bordering on autocracy, with fears that, if elected French president, she will rule with heavy-handed authoritarianism.

Royal has defended herself from the accusation.

"I assume my authority. Because we live in a world that needs references, needs people who make decisions after consulting.

"In a man, we could say he is building respect, but for a woman it's seen as authoritarianism," she said.

In any case, the friction generated over her leadership style had little effect on her popularity among Socialist members who voted in their party's primary last week to choose their presidential candidate.

In the region of Poitou-Charentes, 80 percent of the ballots went to Royal, significantly more than the 62 percent she collected nationwide.

The band of Scots who embarked on the crusade was led by Sir James Douglas. He carried the heart of Robert the Bruce in a casket, of which Loccard held the key. When Douglas was killed at the Battle of Teba in Spain, and the party returned to Scotland, Loccard's family name was changed to Lockheart, shortened to Lockhart. The family motto includes the words Corda Serrata Pando - I open locked hearts.

It was, however, Loccard's capture of a Moorish emir - one of the Saracens of Granada - that yielded what was to become the Lee Penny. The prince's mother - or wife in some versions of the story - offered the Scottish knight a large sum of money in return for his freedom. She dropped what looked like a pebble, but Loccard could tell by her haste in picking it up that it was a valuable gem and demanded it as part of the ransom.

The woman not only agreed but proceeded to tell Loccard the story of its healing powers and how they should be administered. It could, she said, cure all diseases known to man and beast. The stone had to be dipped into water, with no words of incantation uttered, while the affected or diseased part was washed. No money was to be taken from those afflicted and seeking cure.

On Loccard's return to his home at Lee, near Lanark, the stone attracted huge interest from the superstitious country folk. They flocked to Lee for its curative powers and watched transfixed as the stone was held by a chain and dipped twice into pure spring water then given one swirl, a practice that became known as "twa dips and a swirl".

Further reading
Print off the words to an Ayrshire poem about the amulet. (The file can be opened with Acrobat Reader.)
The Lee Penny appeared to be an especially worthwhile remedy in cases of hydrophobia or rabies. When the plague visited Newcastle in the early 17th century the city borrowed the amulet, putting down a deposit of £6,000 for its safe return.

A member of the Edinburgh gentry, Lady Baird of Sauchtonhall, was bitten by a mad dog and began to show signs of rabies. Her husband was loaned the penny and the woman, after drinking and bathing in the medicated water, recovered her health. The Bairds considered it a "miracle" and entertained the Laird of Lee in a "sumptuous manner" for years afterwards.

In 1638 an attempt was made by strict Presbyterians to charge Sir James Lockhart with sorcery but it was thrown out by the Synod of the Church of Scotland on the grounds that no magical words were used while the process was carried out.

Gradually, however, the belief in the powers of the Lee Penny waned and there has been no instance of it being used since the middle of the 19th century. Sir Walter Scott based his book The Talisman on the story of the penny and it remains in the Lockhart family to this day, kept in a gold and enamel snuffbox given to Sir James Lockhart by Maria Theresa, Empress of Austria, in 1789.

Despite its name it is not a penny at all, but a dark red, semi-transparent, triangular gemstone set in a groat - or fourpenny coin - dating from the reign of Edward I of England. It remains a precious family heirloom and the most famous and mysterious amulet of its kind in Scottish history.

He said the experts would "be able to step in - either through one-to-one support or in group sessions - to offer a helping hand to parents who are beginning to struggle with their children before the problems get out of hand".

Mr Blair denied the scheme would involve "interfering with normal family life", adding: "Life isn't normal if you've got 12-year-olds out every night, drinking and creating nuisance on the street with their parents not knowing or even caring."

The plans coincide with a government-commissioned Mori poll revealing that 85% of people think bad parenting is responsible for bad behaviour.

Commenting on the findings, the prime minister said: "This should be no surprise given the huge popularity of television programmes in which experts help parents with their problem kids."

More details of the "supernanny" scheme will be revealed by the home secretary, John Reid, later today.

However, Paul Cavadino, the chief executive of the crime reduction charity Nacro, said blaming parents was "unproductive".

"Many parents are at their wits' end to know how to control their children's behaviour," he said. "They need support rather than a punitive approach.

Mr Cavadino said parents should not be forced to attend courses, adding: "Parenting courses have a proven track record in helping parents to exercise more effective control over their children's behaviour.

"However, a voluntary approach is usually more likely to engage parents than compulsion, which can run the risk of breeding resentment."

He pointed out that youth courts were already able to order parents to attend parenting courses when their children were convicted of criminal offences.

"We should be cautious about extending compulsory powers to other types of antisocial behaviour without the procedural safeguards of a youth court hearing," he said.

The government's respect co-ordinator, Louise Casey, insisted evidence showed compulsory courses were "equally effective as voluntary".

"Almost nine times out of 10, those parents do not have to be forced to do it - they are actually taking help when they get the right wake-up call," she told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

"I am very comfortable - as is every member of the public, the Mori poll shows - that if you need to force people on to parenting courses to get help, then you should."